Oil-press mat.



R. F. WEEK.

OIL PRESS MAT. APPLICATION FILED JUNE gs. 19oz.

WITNESSES:

ANDREW, u. 01mm on PNDYO-LIYMOGRAPNERS. wnsmuamy. a c.

. 'PATENTED wins, 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

ROBERT FRANZ WERK, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

OIL-PRESS MAT.

Patented May 8, 1906.

Original application filed September 10, 1901, Serial No. 74,906. Divided and this application filed June 26, 1902. Serial No. 113,260-

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, ROBERT FRANZ WEEK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and Improved Oil-Press Mat, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in oil-press mats, and the subject-matter of the present invention forms a division of a prior application for Letters Patent filed by me on September 10, 1901, Serial No. 74,906.

In the manufacture of mats for oil-presses it is desirable to use animal hair, because such a cloth or mat gives a cleaner oil than mats made of fibrous or other materials, and this is due to the fact that the oil when expressed from the material goes through the cloth or mat and is not forced out at the sides, where there is nothing to prevent the loose meats from washing out with the oil. Mats made of animal hair are also superior owing to the absence of sediment in the oil, which when present in the product requires to be eliminated by the process of filtration. Besides this objection, the presence of sediment serves to deteriorate the quality of the oil, to reduce the quantity of oil, as the net result of the pressure and the filtration, and the settling-tanks require frequent cleaning, and finally, the residue with the sediment must be re-pressed or is entirely lost. If re-pressed, the residue produces a dark and inferior cake. The employment of mats or cloths made of hair overcomes these objections; but ordinary mats are open to the objection that they are liable to split or divide under the shearing strain exerted by the seeds being forced un der pressure between the warp-threads, so as to sever the weft-threads.

In the present invention I aim to produce an animal-hair mat which will operate to secure a large yield of oil by reason of its superior draining qualities and which will develop through use a smooth glossy surface that is very advantageous because the surface facilitates the operation of charging the formed cake into the press, and the cake will not adhere to the mat with the result that the mat can be stripped or removed with ease and facility.

The improved cloth or mat consists of warp-threads and weft-threads, both being composed of long animal hair, which is hard, stiff, and coarse, or, to otherwise express the same matter, the threads are made of long hair of comparatively coarse and thick filament, said warp-threads being greatly in excess per square inch of the weft-threads, and they are in such close proximity to each other as to entirely cover and protect the weftthreads from contact with seeds and pressplates, said weft-threads also being thicker than the warp-threads, and the warp-threads ior ming the selvage consisting of soft pliable Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 is a plan view of aportion of an oil.- press mat constructed in accordance with this invention, and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken in the plane indicated by the dotted line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawings, the warp-threads A are arranged one alongside of the other, and they are interwoven with the weftthreads B, the latter being completely cov ered or concealed by the said warp-threads.

In the present invention the oil-press mat or cloth has its main portion constructed of threads or strands, the latter being composed, essentially, of animal hair. The animal hair employed in the production of the warp threads or strands and the weft threads or strands is hard, stiff, and coarsesuch as horse-tail hair, cattle-tail hair, and hair from horses manesthe hair being of comparatively thick filament in addition to possessing the qualities of being long, stiff, and

coarse.

The first step in the preparation of the material adopted for the manufacture of the mat is to select long hair having the peculiarities herein described and a proper num ber of hairs are twisted together into a thread or strand, a suitable number of the strands being employed in the warp and the weft. After the material has been prepared in the manner described the warp-threads are arranged in parallel series and alongside of one another, as shown by Fig. 1, while the weft threads or strands extend across the warp threads or strands, so as to be interwoven therewith. The warp-threads are from five to eight times in excess per square inch of the weft threads in order to distribute the pressure more evenly over the weft-threads and at the same time to completely cover or conceal said weft-threads. I prefer to employ IIO weft threads or strands whioh'are from two to three times thicker than the warp-threads, because the increased thickness of the weftthreads impart a more desirable cushioning effect to the warp-threads.

It is obvious that the employment of quite thick warp-threads will have a tendency to concentrate the pressure at the points of intersection between the warp-threads and the weft-threads; but if the Warp-threads are more numerous the points of contact with the Weft-threads are correspondingly more numerous, thereby reducing the pressure Which the weft-threads are required to sustain at any iven point.

One of the peculiar features of my improved press mat or cloth consists in the employment of a selvage which is made of soft pliable hair, thus reducing the shearing strain exerted by the seeds and the press-plates upon the mat and overcoming severance or cutting of the mat at the edge portions thereof, thereby preventing the strands or threads from unraveling and increasing the durability of the cloth or mat. The warp-threads forming the selvage are made of soft pliable hair, whereas the threads in the main or body poritlion of the mat consist of longer and stronger air.

The use of warp-threads made of soft hair to form the selvage of the mat is attended by the advantageous results heretofore described; but the coarse and strong hair threads in the warp and weft of the main portion of the mat secures the desired resistance and stability, and the entire mat retains all the desirable drainage qualities.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. An oil-press mat, consisting of warpthreads and weft-threads, the warp-threads and the weft-threads both being" composed of long animal hair which is hard, stiff and coarse, said warp-threads being greatly in excess per square inch of the weft-threads, and disposed in close proximity to each other to entriely conceal and protect the Weft-threads; the weft-threads being thicker than the warp-threads, and the warp-threads forming the selvage consisting of soft pliable hair.

2. An oil-press cloth consisting of warpthreads and weft-threads, both threads being composed of long animal hair, the warpthreads forming the middle portion of the cloth being composed of longer hair than the hair composing the warp-threads at and near the edges of the cloth.

3. An oil-press cloth consisting of warpthreads and weft-threads, both threads being composed of long animal hair, the hair forming the warp-threads at and near the middle portion of the cloth being longer than the hair at and near the edges of the cloth, and the warp-threads forming the selvages being composed of soft pliable hair.

4. An oil-press cloth consisting of warpthreads and weft-threads, both threads'being composed of long animal hair which is hard, stiff and coarse, the Warp-threads at the center portion of the cloth being of longer hair than the hair forming the warpthreads at and near the edges of the cloth.

5. An oil-press mat consisting of war threads and weft-threads, both of the said threads being composed of hard hair.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT FRANZ WERK.

Witnesses:

W. F. HAULER, ARMAND KERLE. 

